CHAPTER 32
SENATE BILL No. 22
An Act concerning unlawful employment practices; relating to
genetic testing; amending
K.S.A. 44-1002 and 44-1009 and repealing the existing
sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 44-1002 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 44-
1002. When used in this act:
(a) ``Person'' includes one or more
individuals, partnerships, associ-
ations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives,
trustees, trus-
tees in bankruptcy or receivers.
(b) ``Employer'' includes any person in
this state employing four or
more persons and any person acting directly or indirectly for an
employer,
labor organizations, nonsectarian corporations, organizations
engaged in
social service work and the state of Kansas and all political and
municipal
subdivisions thereof, but shall not include a nonprofit fraternal
or social
association or corporation.
(c) ``Employee'' does not include any
individual employed by such
individual's parents, spouse or child or in the domestic service of
any
person.
(d) ``Labor organization'' includes any
organization which exists for
the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining, of
dealing with
employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment
or
of other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment.
(e) ``Employment agency'' includes any
person or governmental
agency undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure
opportu-
nities to work or to procure, recruit, refer or place
employees.
(f) ``Commission'' means the Kansas human
rights commission cre-
ated by this act.
(g) ``Unlawful employment practice''
includes only those unlawful
practices and acts specified in K.S.A. 44-1009 and amendments
thereto
and includes segregate or separate.
(h) ``Public accommodations'' means any
person who caters or offers
goods, services, facilities and accommodations to the public.
Public ac-
commodations include, but are not limited to, any lodging
establishment
or food service establishment, as defined by K.S.A 36-501 and
amend-
ments thereto; any bar, tavern, barbershop, beauty parlor, theater,
skating
rink, bowling alley, billiard parlor, amusement park, recreation
park,
swimming pool, lake, gymnasium, mortuary or cemetery which is
open
to the public; or any public transportation facility. Public
accommodations
do not include a religious or nonprofit fraternal or social
association or
corporation.
(i) ``Unlawful discriminatory practice''
means: (1) Any discrimination
against persons, by reason of their race, religion, color, sex,
disability,
national origin or ancestry:
(A) In any place of public
accommodations; or
(B) in the full and equal use and
enjoyment of the services, facilities,
privileges and advantages of any institution, department or agency
of the
state of Kansas or any political subdivision or municipality
thereof; and
(2) any discrimination against persons in
regard to membership in a
nonprofit recreational or social association or corporation by
reason of
race, religion, sex, color, disability, national origin or ancestry
if such as-
sociation or corporation has 100 or more members and: (A)
Provides
regular meal service; and (B) receives payment for dues, fees, use
of
space, use of facility, services, meals or beverages, directly or
indirectly,
from or on behalf of nonmembers.
This term shall not apply to a religious or
private fraternal and benev-
olent association or corporation.
(j) ``Disability'' means, with respect to
an individual:
(1) A physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or
more of the major life activities of such individual;
(2) a record of such an impairment;
or
(3) being regarded as having such an
impairment by the person or
entity alleged to have committed the unlawful discriminatory
practice
complained of.
Disability does not include current, illegal
use of a controlled substance
as defined in section 102 of the federal controlled substance act
(21
U.S.C. 802), in housing discrimination. In employment and public
accom-
modation discrimination, ``disability'' does not include an
individual who
is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs where possession
or dis-
tribution of such drugs is unlawful under the controlled substance
act (21
U.S.C. 812), when the covered entity acts on the basis of such
use.
(k) ``Reasonable accommodation''
means:
(1) Making existing facilities used by
employees readily accessible to
and usable by individuals with disabilities; and
(2) job restructuring; part-time or
modified work schedules; reassign-
ment to a vacant position; acquisition or modification of equipment
or
devices; appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations,
train-
ing materials or policies; provision of qualified readers or
interpreters;
and other similar accommodations for individuals with
disabilities.
(l) ``Regarded as having such an
impairment'' means the absence of
a physical or mental impairment but regarding or treating an
individual
as though such an impairment exists.
(m) ``Genetic screening or testing''
means a laboratory test of a per-
son's genes or chromosomes for abnormalities, defects or
deficiencies, in-
cluding carrier status, that are linked to physical or mental
disorders or
impairments, or that indicate a susceptibility to illness,
disease or other
disorders, whether physical or mental, which test is a direct
test for ab-
normalities, defects or deficiencies, and not an indirect
manifestation of
genetic disorders.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 44-1009 is hereby
amended to read as follows: 44-
1009. (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice:
(1) For an employer, because of the race,
religion, color, sex, disa-
bility, national origin or ancestry of any person to refuse to hire
or employ
such person to bar or discharge such person from employment or
to
otherwise discriminate against such person in compensation or in
terms,
conditions or privileges of employment; to limit, segregate,
separate, clas-
sify or make any distinction in regards to employees; or to follow
any
employment procedure or practice which, in fact, results in
discrimina-
tion, segregation or separation without a valid business
necessity.
(2) For a labor organization, because of
the race, religion, color, sex,
disability, national origin or ancestry of any person, to exclude
or to expel
from its membership such person or to discriminate in any way
against
any of its members or against any employer or any person employed
by
an employer.
(3) For any employer, employment agency
or labor organization to
print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any
statement,
advertisement or publication, or to use any form of application for
em-
ployment or membership or to make any inquiry in connection with
pro-
spective employment or membership, which expresses, directly or
indi-
rectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race,
religion,
color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry, or any intent
to make any
such limitation, specification or discrimination, unless based on a
bona
fide occupational qualification.
(4) For any employer, employment agency
or labor organization to
discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person
because
such person has opposed any practices or acts forbidden under this
act
or because such person has filed a complaint, testified or assisted
in any
proceeding under this act.
(5) For an employment agency to refuse to
list and properly classify
for employment or to refuse to refer any person for employment or
oth-
erwise discriminate against any person because of such person's
race,
religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry; or
to comply
with a request from an employer for a referral of applicants for
employ-
ment if the request expresses, either directly or indirectly, any
limitation,
specification or discrimination as to race, religion, color, sex,
disability,
national origin or ancestry.
(6) For an employer, labor organization,
employment agency, or
school which provides, coordinates or controls apprenticeship,
on-the-job,
or other training or retraining program, to maintain a practice of
discrim-
ination, segregation or separation because of race, religion,
color, sex,
disability, national origin or ancestry, in admission, hiring,
assignments,
upgrading, transfers, promotion, layoff, dismissal, apprenticeship
or other
training or retraining program, or in any other terms, conditions
or priv-
ileges of employment, membership, apprenticeship or training; or to
fol-
low any policy or procedure which, in fact, results in such
practices with-
out a valid business motive.
(7) For any person, whether an employer
or an employee or not, to
aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any of the acts
forbidden
under this act, or attempt to do so.
(8) For an employer, labor organization,
employment agency or joint
labor-management committee to: (A) Limit, segregate or classify a
job
applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects the
opportunities or
status of such applicant or employee because of the disability of
such
applicant or employee; (B) participate in a contractual or other
arrange-
ment or relationship, including a relationship with an employment
or
referral agency, labor union, an organization providing fringe
benefits to
an employee or an organization providing training and
apprenticeship
programs that has the effect of subjecting a qualified applicant or
em-
ployee with a disability to the discrimination prohibited by this
act; (C)
utilize standards criteria, or methods of administration that have
the effect
of discrimination on the basis of disability or that perpetuate the
discrim-
ination of others who are subject to common administrative control;
(D)
exclude or otherwise deny equal jobs or benefits to a qualified
individual
because of the known disability of an individual with whom the
qualified
individual is known to have a relationship or association; (E) not
make
reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental
limitations
of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an
applicant
or employee, unless such employer, labor organization,
employment
agency or joint labor-management committee can demonstrate that
the
accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of
the
business thereof; (F) deny employment opportunities to a job
applicant
or employee who is an otherwise qualified individual with a
disability, if
such denial is based on the need to make reasonable accommodation
to
the physical or mental impairments of the employee or applicant;
(G) use
qualification standards, employment tests or other selection
criteria that
screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or
a class
of individuals with disabilities unless the standard, test or other
selection
criteria, as used, is shown to be job-related for the position in
question
and is consistent with business necessity; or (H) fail to select
and admin-
ister tests concerning employment in the most effective manner to
ensure
that, when such test is administered to a job applicant or employee
who
has a disability that impairs sensory, manual or speaking skills,
the test
results accurately reflect the skills, aptitude or whatever other
factor of
such applicant or employee that such test purports to measure,
rather
than reflecting the impaired sensory, manual or speaking skills of
such
employee or applicant (except where such skills are the factors
that the
test purports to measure).
(9) For any employer to:
(A) Seek to obtain, to obtain or to
use genetic screening or testing
information of an employee or a prospective employee to
distinguish be-
tween or discriminate against or restrict any right or benefit
otherwise
due or available to an employee or a prospective employee;
or
(B) subject, directly or indirectly, any
employee or prospective em-
ployee to any genetic screening or test.
(b) It shall not be an unlawful
employment practice to fill vacancies
in such way as to eliminate or reduce imbalance with respect to
race,
religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry.
(c) It shall be an unlawful
discriminatory practice:
(1) For any person, as defined herein
being the owner, operator, les-
see, manager, agent or employee of any place of public
accommodation
to refuse, deny or make a distinction, directly or indirectly, in
offering its
goods, services, facilities, and accommodations to any person as
covered
by this act because of race, religion, color, sex, disability,
national origin
or ancestry, except where a distinction because of sex is necessary
because
of the intrinsic nature of such accommodation.
(2) For any person, whether or not
specifically enjoined from dis-
criminating under any provisions of this act, to aid, abet, incite,
compel
or coerce the doing of any of the acts forbidden under this act, or
to
attempt to do so.
(3) For any person, to refuse, deny, make
a distinction, directly or
indirectly, or discriminate in any way against persons because of
the race,
religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry of
such persons
in the full and equal use and enjoyment of the services,
facilities, privi-
leges and advantages of any institution, department or agency of
the state
of Kansas or any political subdivision or municipality
thereof.
Sec. 3. K.S.A. 44-1002 and 44-1009 are hereby
repealed.
Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its
publication in the statute book.
Approved March 29, 1999.
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